Criminals Caught By Stupidity — Mystery Question

Patricia Bradley Mystery Question 52 Comments

Criminals Caught By Stupidity (their own) is this week’s Mystery Question. I had a lot of fun finding these by first starting out by googling “Criminals Hoisted on Their Own Petard” but I didn’t find many examples which surprised me.

Someone being hoisted on their own petard is a phrase from a speech in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The phrase’s meaning is that a bomb-maker is lifted (“hoisted”) off the ground with his own bomb (a “petard” is a small explosive device), and indicates an ironic reversal, or poetic justice. I thought the stories I found fit very well!

But first the photo and verse. The photo was taken when I went to Israel in 2018. We were near Engedi where Saul chased David around the mountain. The water is the Dead Sea, and that’s the Jordanian hills in the background. I loved that trip to Israel!!

And now for last week’s Mystery Question–More Sweet Revenge stories. These are true stories…except for one that I made up. Can you guess which one?
  1. Someone kept stealing her coffee creamer at work, so she filled the bottle with water, flour for creaminess, and a ton of salt. They clearly used it, but none of her bottles have been touched since.
  2. A worker kept stealing her coworker’s lunches at work. One person got tired of it and rubbed a ghost pepper that is ten times hotter than a habanero pepper all over her lunch meat. Problem solved.
  3. A water park had an eating area with limited time seating, and a woman pulled two tables together and set up camp with a cup of coffee and a book. After an hour, the lifeguard reminded her the seating was for a limited time, and she asked to speak to his manager and told him she had a heart condition and needed to stay there. Fast forward three hours and the lifeguard is rotated to one of the “thrill” rides, and lo and behold who should show up but the woman with the “heart condition.” The lifeguard tells her it’s too dangerous for someone with a bad heart. Again, she demands to see his manager, who happens to be the same one she’d told the “heart condition” story…
  4. He gave his girlfriend his Netflix password, and when they broke up, he asked her nicely not to use it. She kept using it. He waited until she was two seasons into Pretty Little Liar and changed the password.

And the answer is…#2. Congrats to Caryl Kane! She’s the only one who guessed #2. 😉

Now for this week’s Mystery Question–Criminals Caught By Stupidity. These are true stories…except for one that I made up. Can you guess which one?
  1. A detective interviewed witnesses to a murder and noticed one witness had an interesting tattoo on his arm. It was a checklist of names and dates. The detective recognized two of the names as murder victims. Further checking matched all of the names and dates to unsolved crimes in the area.
  2. A thief stole more than 100 smartphones at a music festival. iPhone revelers detained him after tracking their phone using an app that comes with the phone.
  3. In 2011, police in California recovered a stolen laptop after being handed clues to its whereabouts. Every time the thief opened the computer, a stealth software program took his photo. The program also took a screenshot showing the man logging into his own e-mail account. Investigators used the information to lure him into an arrest.
  4. An armed man on the run from police live-tweeted the chase. He also posted a photo of a gun, police records show, and the location of a home where he had chosen to hide. Crooks seem to have no idea police check suspects social media.
Okay, Mystery Sleuths, which one did I make up? Leave your answers in the comments and I’ll enter you in an August drawing for a book from my library!

And the winner of July’s Drawing is…Gloria A! I’ll contact you with a list of books to choose from. 🙂

Criminals Caught By Stupidity is this week's Mystery Question. As usual, three true stories, one made up. Can you guess which one? Leave your answers in the comments and I'll enter you in an August drawing for a book from my library! Share on X

Before I go…today is release day for Deception, Natchez Trace Park Rangers Book 4!!

I would so appreciate it if you tweeted about it!

BOOK BIRTHDAY!! DECEPTION, NATCHEZ TRACE PARK RANGERS, BOOK 4 releases today!!! Check it out at https://ptbradley.com/books Share on X

When ISB RDeception, Natchez Trace Park Rangers, Book 4anger Madison Thorn arrives in Natchez to investigate a white-collar scheme, she has no idea she will be thrown back into the violent crimes division–or that it will get so personal. She’ll have to work with her childhood-enemy-turned-handsome-charmer to unravel the clues before it’s too late.

You can find buy links here. And Baker Books has Deception for 40% off!

Oh, and if you want to learn a little more about me, Gina Holder is interviewing me today by Gina Holder here.

 

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Comments 52

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  2. Delores Topliff

    Congratulations on the release day for deception! I think you made up number three this time only because I don’t think they have software that sophisticated developed then, but I might be wrong 🙂

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  4. Debra Tucker

    Congratulations Pat on Deception’s release!! Thank for your photo and verse. I love hearing about your trip to Israel! To see the actual Biblical locations is remarkable.

    Congratulations to Sleuths Caryl and Gloria too!

    This week’s entries are all really great but I’ve got to go with #1- only because it’s just so fascinating in a weird way.

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  7. Tim Johnson

    Oh, your photo and verse say it all. I can picture David and Saul there.

    Those are really good dumb crime stories. I believe the dumbest is #1, so I think that is the one you made up.

    And finally, congratulations on your book release, Pat. I can’t wait to start reading it.

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  8. Barbara Diggs

    CONGRATULATIONS on your newest release, Deception! 🙂

    This week’s mystery questions were all challenging. I’m going with #3, because this crime didn’t payoff! Lol the computer took his photo each time he opened it. All that work for nothing! Ha!

    Loved the photo and verse. I have great memories of my trip to Israel in 1973 and the verse is one we used in our wedding!

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  10. Betti

    Congratulations on the release of Deception. What an incredible book!
    I am having trouble deciding which one of these you made up. They really are all quite unbelievable..lol. I will join the rest in choosing #1, but I really have trouble believing any of them.

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  11. Judy

    Congratulations on your book release. And by the way it is a great book. I will say number one because who would have a tattoo with dates of crimes.

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  14. L. Murphy

    Congratulations on your book release! The Park Ranger series is my favorite out of your books, although I love all of them.
    The pairing of Psalm 121 with the photo of Israel is absolutely perfect.
    I’m going to guess #2. I think it would be hard to steal 100 phones at an event before getting caught.

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  15. Edward Arrington

    Pat, I always enjoy your pictures that you share from Israel. I don’t know if I will ever get to see them firsthand, but I can enjoy pictures you have taken. It’s interesting that I have heard that same verse shared three or four times over the past week. It is very fitting.

    I’m going to have to go with #1. To pull that one off, he would have had to go to a tattoo artist out of state or do the tattooing himself. Surely anyone in the area would have recognized one or more names if they were all from the same general area.

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      Patricia Bradley

      Hi Edward. As usual, your logic is great…but I’m not sure he would’ve gone to a “legitimate tattoo artist”… And I’m glad you’re enjoying my Israel photos. I’ll have to share more.

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  17. Vera Day

    Congratulations to Caryl Kane and Gloria! I pick number 1 because no one could be that idiotic, surely!

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  18. Alicia Haney

    I’m going with #1. Congratulations on your new release!! It sounds and looks very intriguing . Have a great week.

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  23. Diane Nickerson

    I’m going to go with #1. Tattooing one or two names, I could see. The list seems a bit over-the-top. Of course, many criminals are, but I had to choose something! 😉

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  24. Gloria A

    Congratulations on the release of Deceptions, Pat! Looking forward to reading it. I have enjoyed the series. I am guessing #3 this week. Thanks for the book! So cool to be a winner!

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